WATERTOWN -- The majority of a multi-million dollar lawsuit by a local sheriff's deputy against her employer was thrown out by a judge on Thursday.
State Supreme Court Judge James McClusky issued a ruling Thursday morning, dismissing four of the five complaints in a $50 million lawsuit by Deputy Krystal Rice against the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office. Rice alleges she was coerced by a detective into having topless photos taken of her as part of a pedophilia sting, who then failed to give the pictures back to her as promised.
The four dismissed charges were:
- Intentional emotional distress
- Negligent emotional distress
- Fraudulent inducement
- Spolation (destruction) of evidence
Judge McClusky let stand Rice's claim that there was a contract between Rice and the sheriff's office for the photos. She claims that contract was breached. The judge also said Rice cannot sue for punitive damages, but can still sue for actual damages.
According to the lawsuit, the photo session was authorized by the sheriff's office. Rice claimed she signed a contract that would ensure her the photos would only be used for police investigations and that she could retrieve them at any time.
The photos were taken in 2006 at a secluded location near the Black River Bay fishing access area. In the lawsuit, Rice claims when she tried to retrieve the photos stored on a disk in 2009, she was subjected to harassment. The lawsuit claims she was not able to determine whether the disk or the contract still exists.
No future court date has been set at this time, pending further action by attorneys for both sides.
